The Sun. — London, England, 1808-08-09 00:00:00

;! i 1 1, 11 .,1! !tint: hate all rs 3 Media to 7 , wLo•is Cod the FAller, and 0. - at at thi6 moment Rio S-.eo is tiro most unfortunate, the most wretched kibitet:o!) oi) the face of the earth ! CORUNNA, itILY 30.—Marshal BESS/ERES has seat an , bther letter to our General" in Chief. It is dated lhr 28th, and the excuse for sending It is, that a sa ti,tactou answer was not returned to the former.— Il;e substance is to represent, with every expres sion of respect, that he ought to avoid the unneces sary :Ind useless effusion of blood, as the BOURBONS, who were expressly named, could never reign, con sistently with the safety of France and the greater part of Ourope. A desire of an interview was ex pressed, and a place was named for the meeting.— To all this the following answer was returned : " luly 28, zBoB. (.` S:6•Nrort MARsITAL.—I have received your Excellency's letter with- due respect, and renew to rx. my acknowledgments for your having set at liberty the 400 or 500 prisoners taken in the baffle of Rio Sco, whom your Excellency calls peasants of Galicia. They are, however, real soldiers. They are recruits incorporated in the regiments of the tine, though they did not wear uniforms. I explain this circumstance, not to exempt myself from ac knowledging the generous conduct of your Excel lency towards these men, but lest any equivocal idea siould, at another time, bring on them a treat ment they would not deserve, as your . Excellency must yourself be sensible, from the manner in which you express yourself. `• Your Excellency will find Me always disposed to diminish, as much as possible, the.horrors of war, taking pride to myself in imitating your condua in that respect. But I cannot allow myself; Signior General, to admit the conference which you pro pose, nor to cuter into any discussion on the sub jeM which would be to be agitated in it. Your Ex ' cellency tells me that the family of Bourbon has ceased to reign in Spain, and that their return to occupy - their -throne would be the means of destroy ing France and a great part of Europe. What is then the great crime that family has committed It is, perhaps, the frank, loyal, and intimate alliance which has for thirteen-years united it to France. " But I exceed the limits I have set to myself, by entering into observations; and I must confine riiyseff to 'entreat your Excellency to abandon the projea of changing my opinion, which is well made u?•on this matter. Your Excellency would, with out doubt, be offended, if I proposed to you to change your party and to abandon the Emperor of tio French, Whom you have sworn to support; and sorely you ought to rerlec`:t, that on the same princi ples I ought not to listen to the propositions of your Excellency ; nor is it right that your Excellency should make them to a man of honour. • sf I regard with high estimation your Excellency's military talents, And I am pruuu' to be opposed to so 4istinguished au antagonist, As to tint result of this ‘;,,niest, I rely with the fullest :contidencon thel)i litue Providence which decides the fate of Armies and Natiuns, and will soonerot•later look with an cye of favour on the just cause which we defend as true Spaniards-4 renew to your Excellency, Signior Marshal, the assurances of my high consideration. (Signior IV4rsnal Bess*e§.) " 10AQUIN BLAKE." SHORES OF TIM BAY OP BISCAY, AUGUST I am this moment informed, that the Packet which a : rived on Sunday evening from .England, is about to return instantly, in order to convey the glorious telligercce which has just been received; and I must therefore hasten, in a few worth - , to give you ()[ -ne idea of the present state of the.public mind in this part. If . the %spirit of all. Spaiu may be esti fai that of Galicia, there can, be no doubt 'that it %Via vanquish every obstacle which May be thrown in the IA ay of the: national independence and freedom. Every one is WI of.hope and .joy. The public confidence . has shewp itself, by an ad of de . - cision, which, Were any 'apprehensions remaining, - would never have been risked. On Sunday the peo yle demanded of th e Niagktrates the arrest of the hunch residing in Corunna. Tbisrcquest was corn viied with, aua executed, for the rnorbent, with in- Ji4eriniitiating riguur, witith will no doubt be very soon relaxed in favour of those who are well known, and have been leg:dly settled in the- country for even such persons were apprehended. The prisoners have been all taken to the common jail, but their - property liaA not seen seized, and-no personal vi o l ence 'has been committed against any one. I understand that this net of seeming severity was provoked by the expression, if not of wishes, at least of an opi nion in favour of . the French arms, by some of their ',..onntrytnen residing here. The number of those 'apprehended, of .different ranks and conditions amounts to between 3G and 40. This anecdote I relate as domestic occurrence, which of course t 3 us more particularly. 4is to th,- general affairs of Spain, the Public Papeis Win contain the details, of which I can relate only -a bilminnry. To spea'4 apin of ourselves, we are proud of our eLmatauder iu - Chief, and in this pride you may also take a share, lOr the name of BLAKE is not un )(;,ovirn is the annals of . British glory ; and our Ge neral,.of Irish family, if not aetually, born in Ire land, wiq add lc the honours of the name. Mar shal firsstEßEs bas a second time attempted to prac-• ti se on him the arts of Frenchaophistry and co n rrup tio. Cieneral 14AKE's‘ lead-qttatters are near 'As torga, where he . watches the public f - Oe. The affair ' o t t h e I .11t ) ;3it, was consiclere4',.by some as disadvan -wgt4us to the cause pi -the Patri o ts, and - t1,3,e march at the enemy into Leon was',even deemed an ad- MAILS. ARRIVID-2 Dublin, I Waterford. Dus—t Gutff:nburgh, Waterford. V RR. h OF STOCKS . • THIS DAY A f TWEI.V 6 O'CLOCK. Consols 67 a f Omnium - i THE SUN. 10-. EM QUIS DICESIA ALSLIM AUI,e L U ND 0 N, TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1808. WE yesterday laid before our Readers all the de tails which had 'reached. Goveruinent respecting the glorious vi&ory obtained over General DU;PONT, but as the letters of Generals CASTANEOS and only appeared in part of our itnpressibn, we have this day re-printed them. -. After having on scr , many oCcasions manifested the fervent interest which we take in the fate of the Spaniards; it is, needless. for us to express the high degree of pleasure which we felt in -having an op portunity of presenting to the public the authentic accounts of their glOrious viaory, a vi&ory that, iii . the present state of affairs in Spain, is of the utmost importance to the Country, but of essentialimport , import ance also in its probable consequences, as it will shew that the strength and spirit of the Spa niards aye commensurate with the justice of their cause: Such a triumph of their arms, unexperienced - as they' are, and chiefly direaed by the impulse of loyalty and patriotism,' cannot but animate them in their glorious career,' and 'Proportionally depress the hopes . of the Tyrant who assails them:' Their , , cause excites the sympathy , and the anxious wishes of mankind in their ratoni. His Motives adtnif . Of no palliation. They are not only adverse to the par , licular people whom be is endeavouring to enslaye, but to the best interests of man in all future ages.— , - But its immediate results are the chief objeeis of .attention at this moment'. Andalusia is efl:eaually deliverz.d from its enemies, one of their ablest Ciene:; • rals has been discOmfited, BASSIgRES will mosrpra bably be arrested in course, if he, is not In,' duced to retreat with more haste .ad vanced, and Sir ARTI;U WU LESLEY R '!aan he, EY .may pro ceed at once' to an attack Qr.: JUNOT, 'who mast speedily surrender, 01' l :" reduced to the most perilous extremity. The consequences to Siyal73, in a very short time, must be the recovery of her capi tal, and JOSEPH BUONArARTE will measure his steps back to France, notwithstanding the pompous ac counts that have been given of his Royal progress, and that only denote " Mouth honour, which the poor tongue would fain deny, but dares not." All the other Provinces of Spain may be confidently expected to follow the example of Andalusia. But another consideration highly gratifying is, that the Tyrant will have no opportunity of putting into prac tice those treacherous arts by which he_has ensnared other nations, into their own ruin. The Spaniards 'hold him in the utmost detestation—they have pro claimed that detestation in spirited appeals to man kind, which have been circulated, we hope, through out the Continent, even including France.—CASTA NOS, the intrepid General, who has achieved this glorious viEtory, is now at liberty to lead his valiant forces to other triumphs, and indeed we may fairly hope, that' the next intelligence. from Spain will spew, that the troops of the great Disturber of man kind will be ready to follow the steps of their Imperial master, who has thought proper to desert them, as he did their comrades in Egypt, and whose retreat at so critical a moment may be considered. as a sign that he began to despair of success, and left the disgrace of failure to be shared among the Generals whom he employed to execute a measure which must entail eternal infamy upon all who are concerned in it. The very spoils of this glorious ViCtory, twenty' thousand musquets, and a proportionate qnantity ammunition, &c. &c. are no small advantage in the present critical state of Spain ; and it is a snbjea - Of pious gratitude for the Spaniards, that the means tended for their destru6tion are become the instru ments of annoyance to their foes. WE have been favoured with the following Offi, cial Dispatches from Generals CASTANEOS and TILLY to the Supreme Junta of Seville, announcing the glorious Nr iaory over General EUPONT. " MOST SERENE LORD, " I have the satisfaction to inform your Highness of the complete Victory which has been gained since the Battle of Baylen. Gen. DUPONT is a Prisoner of War, with all his division, arms, artillery, baggage, &c. The remainder who were not engaged in the a6tion, although they did not .share this fate, are included in the Capitulation, and obliged to return to France by sea, that not a Frenchman may remain in Andalusia. My Nephew, Colo- pt.] Don PEDRO AGUSTIN GIRON, will communi cate the details of the affair; in the mean time I assure your Highness that the gallantry of. the Officers and Soldiers, and their constancy under toils and privations are worthy of the just estima tion in. which the army deserves to be held by your Highness, and of the confidence I entertained of their patriotism and zeal for the public cause. " I venture to request of your Excellency the full fitment, in my name, of the vow made' by me to de dicate this aaion to the glorious San Fernando. Miy God preserve you many years. if XAVIER DE CASTANOS." Heathy:tatters, at Andujiir, • 21St Inly. " To the most Serene. SapreNe Junta ... of Government." The following is another Letter from his Excel lency' Count DE TILLY : " Yesterday, the 20th july, Spain, or more pro perly, your Highness's army, gained the moit.coul plete victory the Nation has for many Centuriesbe held in these parts. The result has been similar to, that of Baylen ;,,in one moment the :Andalusiansi: have been freed from the French arms. " The division of DUPONT with all its baggage, its booty, and all its Generals are Prisoners of War; and the other divisions which occupy his Majesty's dominions, from the stimmit of the Sierra•to Bay len, are to evacuate ° the Peninsula by sea.— This is the principal point of the Treaty, which General CASTANOS and myself had the satisfaEtion - to sign.last night, and as we withdrew from the field at midnight in want of sleep and rest, I can not immediately send your Highness the particulars of the Capitulation,. or of the . events which have taken place, but will do itasearly'as possible. " The most agreeable intelligence will be car= ried by the Lieutenant-Colonel of the column of Provincial Grenadiers, .Don PaiDao JEROME, an Of-. fiver of the greatest merit, and who, by talents and courage on many.occasions, .and particularly in this army, has rendered himself worthy of any favour yollr Highness . may.bestow upon him. $• "1 havedirealed that the Oath of Allegiance to our. 'Sovereign King FERDINAND VII. which has not yet been taken in this Citz, should be adminis tered to-day, that Te-Deum should be sung and an illumination 'made for three nighti. " God preserve your Highness 'many years. " Most Serene Lord , • " Count Da TiLLY, st The Mast Sorene Lord the President, and Members of the Supreme junta of Scala anil the Indio." • , • Since writing ti:e foregoug*, we Lave rrce' .. e'. to followint, ftirther inttAligence from Si)ain : By letters dated St. Ander°, the ist August, it appeaii; - 11C : at a Nobleman had arrived there who • had escaped from Madrid on the Esth July. says, that there were not above 12,000 French with JOSEPH BUONAPARTE, at Madrid that they were fortifying the Retiero, and that the City was the most afflicting speaacla possible. Several of new Ministers had made their escape from Madrid, and as the Duke DINFANTADO was not there, it wac hoped that he also bad escaped. Official advices have.been ,this morning received from General CASTANEOS'S Camp, up to the 17th These state, that Gea. CASTANEOS having made all his preparations, and determined on his plan of attack, marched to Andujar on the 15th. General RFDING was to pass the River above Manjibar, and attack Baylen. 'The Marquis DE COMPIGNY" was to pass at Villa Nuova, and support Genera! REDING. Gen.CAsTA.NEos,,with the third division and Reserve, was to attack the Bridges. in front. Lieut.-Col. CRUZ was to pass the River at Maur treolege, and to occupy the Sierra. Col. VALDE PINos was to occupy the Puerto del Rey. Ofttlie Ifitly General CASTANOS took his position and onironaded the French with effea. General CONIPIGNY beat the French at Villa Nuova, and killed ,about 200 of them. Lieutenant-Colonel •- CRUZ was obliged to retire, by the superior nom- bers of the Enemy. General REDING, with about 8000 men, attack- ed the Enemy, who , had about 5000, completely beat them, and took two pieces of cannon ; bud from want of provisions was forced to retire to On the 17th, after a Council of War, it was de termined to order the Marquis DE COMPIGNY to join General REDING, and it was determined that Baylen should be attacked with two divisions, and a feigned attack to be made on Andajar with the third division and reserve. By a Letter ;intercepted from General DuPONT to the Duke Da Roy Ico, it appears that he was in great distress for provisions, and was in hopes of a rein. forcement. These particulars naturally led to the glorious events which followed from the 17th to the 20th, and which we had the happiness to commu nicate to the public yesterday. Dispatches were this morning received from Sir 'SI D NEY SMITH they do not contain any thing of importance; 'every thing was perte&ly tranquil in. the Brazils. The Corunna Papers to the 2d inst. were . Yester day received in town, and we are happy to find, that although the intelligence from the North of Spain is' not quite of so brilliant a .nature as that from the. :South,, it is upon the whole highly satisfaEtory.— GeWer . al, BLAKE has taken an excellent position with which is daily increasing in numbers, in discipline, and in confidence,; and we have not the smaThat•lOUbtithat he will soon be in a condition to advance`upen the .Enemy. Marshal BESSIERES has Made another.aitempt to seduce General BLAKE from his loyalty to his' Sovereign, and has again met with '• a firm and dignified refusal. The letter Of Marihal. BESSIERES is, stated in the. Spanish Papers to have • been wiitten. on the 28th July; the answero(Ge neral BLAKE is dated the same day, of course their head-quarters could not be at any great distance from each other. If the dates are corre6lly given in the Spanish PaperS, they tend to throw a considera..- ble degree of doubt upon the intelligence which had previously reached us, of BESSIERES having marched towards the frontiers of Portugal. The French, it appears, have been guilty of the most atrocious cru elties at Rio. Seco : enraged at the severe .loss which they had' sustained in the battle of the 14th, they, with equal . cowardice and cruelty, avenged them selves upon the innocent and defenceless inhabitants of Rio Seco. But the day of retribution is at , hand, and, in a short time, we trust that the other Pro vinces ofSpainlxill be able to repeat the proud boast of Andalusia—that not a single Frenchman in arnitA is to be found in them. Another attack' lass been made upon Saragossa : the assailants did no; exceed' 306.0. men, and they were repulsed with SlaUgh2ter2 XisrEaDaY Dutch Papers to the 4th inst. reacheJ whith Contain intelligence from Paris to the #th ult. They give an account of the journey' ill BuortAPARTE, from the time be left Bayonne; tla. vance ; Is, however, ..certain, that on that day, though.only a wing of the Patriotic army in Leon was engaged, the slaughter sustained by the French was peat. After that engagement the Spaniards re treated towards Zamora, while the French advanced, if ych choose to call it so, to Leon. It requires, however, but a cursory view of the map of Spin to perceive that this is a retreat, .and no advance. Leon, which is altogether unfortified, and the possession of which is of no importance in A military point of view, lies on the north of the kingdom to which it gives a name ; and this march of the French -Gene-' ral i( evidently made in the hope of eifeding a junEtion with the hostile force which still remains, certainly in Biscay, perhaps too in some part of As toria. This is the quarter from which the storm is hereafter to burst upon all Spain, unless the fore taste of the confliet to be endured by BUONAPARTE, which he finds in the annihilation of all his scattered troops, should induce him to refrain from the at tack. Be his resolution what it may, we are not unaware what it impo is : it is a matter of joy to find that he will at alt events have to contend with each prOvince, each kingdom; apart. His artfully concerted projedt of placing strong bodies in the in terior has most unquestionably faded, and it is this which is the subject of a deeply-felt, as well as loud ly expressed joy. From Portugal our intelligence is favourable. The first English detachment, the earnest and pledge of future aid, landed at Figueira on the 26th tilt:— With this foreign assistance, there is no longer any doubt that JUNOT must soon surrender, and this long-expected and anxiously, not fearfully, looked for event becomes every day more certain. In the mean while, the sympathy of all Spain and Portugal is turned towards the people of Lisbon, whose suf ferings i❑ the interval must be great. The latest in formation from this place announces an unsuccessful sortie of General LOISON. Every eftbrt of this kind bespeaks the distress of the enemy, and must pre cipitate the moment of his suhjedion. But the last intelligence which has arrived has filled us all with delight. It has been announced by cannon from our fortifications, and by the firing. of our troops. This intelligence imports no less than the Surrender of DUPONT'S Army at Andujar : and of how great moment this event is we may fairly infer from the repeated anticipations of its taking place. This surrender reduces JON:OT to a state of desperation, even if he had any hope before ; and the link of communication between the Admire" and the Tagus has received another and most decisive. break. The next point of communication which we ex peEt to see in the hands of the Patriots is Madrid; and when we consider, as is officially stated, that not a Frenchman exists in all Andalusia, save in bonds ; that, in Portugal; JUNOT remains in a state of siege ; that all the South of Spain is free ; and that in the North, the late Vi',tories of the Patriots in Arragon have broken the communication be tween the French furces in Biscay and Catalonia, we need not fear the speedy emancipation of the Ca pital, and the compression of the French force with in the Provinces adjoining avonne. When this ar r4es, it will be seen whether the long suffering of the Powers of the North, as well as of the whole French people, may not find an end, and, whether thus Et length . a period may not be put to that ty ranny which seemed so firmly established, and which might have subsisted as a curse to the world; but for the gionstrous and overgrown ambition of him who reaped alone the advantages of it. Such is, at least, the light in which we behold these events, and the probable results of then.